Besides, I like the feedback. It tells me someone actually pays attention to what I do and also gives me some things to think about if you give me the right feedback. Like the question of "When did Astra get her elf powers back?" for that one chapter of Omega Time when she split in two. Human Astra's threat was to electrocute Malfoy, because the FULL ELF Astra was on Malfoy's back. They may be separate, but they'll follow each other to the one goal if they have too, kind of thing.
So yeah, I do read the reviews. .
As for when Astra's going to show up….. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Like I'm really going to answer that one. If you don't know already, which I have no doubt someone already does, then you'll just have to read.
Chapter Three
Another dark alley and another dark night. Harry was getting sick of this, but it was a part of his job. He was perched on the fire escape of a building, watching the alley below. At least he wasn't on a dumpster.
This time, he really did have a purpose and not just to watch out for someone about to do a crime or run from him, he had to watch to see anyone suspicious was lurking about. He had to watch the people on the street as well as the animals and the people walking into the alleyway.
He sat up straight as a board when he heard something enter the alleyway from the other direction. He would get hit on the shins for not paying attention, so he looked around silently to see what had come in.
He couldn't see the other person very well, but he could see little bit of what could be a black cloak. It was so black that it seemed to swallow the light from the surrounding area.
He stared harder. It moved and he could tell someone was looking up at him, but he couldn't see their face. He caught the flash of a grin and then, the person took off running.
He grunted. He'd pay hell on Earth if he didn't find out who that was. He jumped down from his perch until he hit the ground, running after the would-be suspect.
"Hey! Get back here!" he called.
He caught only a glimpse of black cloak going around a corner and then disappeared, no sound coming from the shoes the person was wearing hitting the pavement.
He growled and apparated to the roof top to see down into the alleyway. Nothing. He saw nothing. He sighed and watched carefully, sitting on the edge of the roof.
He looked up and saw a silhouette. The cloak was flapping slightly in the breeze and the hood was up, but it wasn't the same person he had been chasing before. He stood up and stared at the person opposite of him. Then, they disapparated, but without the accompanying sound.
He blinked, looking about. It was almost as though the person wasn't even there, but he knew better. He shook his head and looked down into the alleyway. He saw a brief flash and apparated into alleyway. He needed a better look.
He prayed silently for it to not be another voodoo witch, but then he thought, how many voodoo witches were there in England?
He found the source of light and found it to be someone burning some paper trash. It was a short man wearing a coat and balding. The man turned to look to Harry and smiled briefly a pleasant smile. "Hullo, wha' brings the likes o' you ou' in the dead o' nigh'?"
Harry looked about in case he was in another trap. When he finished taking in his surroundings, he looked back to the little man. "Walking… I wanted a breath of air."
The man coughed as smoke hit his face. "Well, ye won' be gettin' any aroun' here, mate."
Harry snorted slightly and nodded. He waved to the man and turned to walk away.
Just then, he heard a scream. He apparated to the rooftops and jumped onto another building; running towards the sound. He maneuvered himself along one roof toward an area that Tonks was patrolling.
He heard the scream again and ran full out to the edge and looked over. He couldn't see anything, but he knew something was wrong. He disapparated to the ground and stealthily looked about; hiding behind a pair of trashcans.
Something was different. He heard another scream and a gasp. He saw a woman shielding her face from something. "No! Please, no! What did I do?!" she gasped.
He couldn't see who was talking, but he could hear them. It was a man with a deep voice. "You know very well what you have done," the man growled.
The woman was a witch, as she drew a wand to protect herself. This only seemed to bring a laugh from the man. "Do you really think you can harm me? No one can. I am invincible. Now, tell me where you hid it and maybe you'll die a much more painless death than your friend."
"I don't know what you are talking about!" the woman gasped.
Harry pulled out his wand and shot a force spell at the woman, knocking her away from the man as he ran out; his wand trained on the wizard. He saw no face, but he recognized the cloak. It was the wizard he'd chased before. "You! Who are you!" he growled out at the wizard.
He caught the flash of a malicious grin. Harry dodged just in time to avoid being cursed. The woman groaned as she got to her feet. Harry saw her and dodged behind a bunch of trash; which promptly exploded onto him.
"The secret lies within," the woman growled and shot a spell at the wizard. "And you're never getting it!"
The wizard stood stock still as the spell hit…and continued standing. Nothing had happened to him. It was as though he'd built up a shield around himself. Harry got out from behind his smelly hiding place, wand ready to fire.
The woman dropped to the ground and writhed in agony. Harry launched himself at the man, knocking him to the ground. He was shoved off like he was nothing, hitting the brick wall opposite of them. "No! You aren't….harming.. anyone!" he gasped out as he tried to gain the ability to think properly again. The blow from hitting the wall was making it difficult to think.
He staggered, holding his wand up to shoot at the wizard, but he hit the ground on his back. There was a scream of agony and he couldn't even stand to save the woman. He gritted his teeth, trying to get up again, but his head was swimming. He was going unconscious and he could not allow that to happen.
"TELL ME! WHERE IS IT!" the wizard growled.
The woman cried out in agony, writhing on the ground. The wizard put his wand down to let her speak, but she could barely think, let alone move. "I…I…"
"Why don't you tell your ass good-bye!" said another growl.
Harry struggled to get to his feet as he watched something clad in a rich black cloak with black silk rope fastenings. He caught a flash of silver on the front of the robes, but he couldn't see what it was. It was a woman, was all he could tell, and that black clad woman had tackled the wizard to the ground and was punching him on the jaw.
The wizard threw her off and she landed on her feet, hitting against the wall Harry was still trying to work his way up. Her hood was up still, but he caught a flash of a face, a very pale face and glint off something shiny.
Her wand was out and the wizard dodged the curse aimed at him. The woman in black dodged a spell aimed at her, which left a sort of electric charge in the wall Harry was leaning against. The man ran off and so did the woman, leaving Harry and the witch alone.
There were several cracks around him. He felt someone lift him up and saw Shacklebolt with his jaw healed. "Is… she all right?"
Tonks, or what Harry assumed to be Tonks, walked over to the fallen witch and helped her up. "She'll be fine," said the old woman with Tonks' voice.
Moody grumbled, his white hair swirling about his head in the breeze. "Where did he go?"
"You were watching, right?" asked Harry, his head still fuzzy.
Moody growled and started for the alleyway that both the woman and the man had disappeared down. "Nothing. He's gone," he grumbled.
"Who was that witch that showed up to help me?" Harry asked, Shacklebolt supporting him.
"Witch?" Tonks asked; her body and face returning to what was normal for Tonks. "What witch?"
Harry's head began to clear as Shacklebolt tapped his head with his wand. He could stand on his own now and peered about. "What do you mean? She showed up. I thought she was someone from the offices," he said slowly.
Tonks shook her head and looked to Shacklebolt. "No… I saw no one, did you Kingsley?" Shacklebolt shook his head.
Moody grunted. "All right, you lot, take the woman back to headquarters. I want a full story, pronto!" Then, he disapparated with a loud and angry crack. The others disappeared in a similar fashion, leaving Harry alone.
Harry looked about, walking into the middle of where the fight had taken place. He kneeled down and looked to the wet ground. He saw nothing. Pavement had a tendency to do that, show nothing.
He glanced up when he heard the flap of a cloak. It was dark, but the other end of the alley had light. A woman was silhouetted in the darkness. He stood up quickly, grabbing his wand. "Who are you!" he growled. He'd had enough of these games.
Her hood was up and she walked as though she had no arms, nothing to indicate true body movement except her legs making the cloak billow when she walked. "WHO ARE YOU!"
She said nothing as she walked toward him until she was within the darkness. He ran over, ready to curse her into an oblivion. However, he reached the darkness he'd seen her walk into and found no one. Nothing was here.
He punched the wall next to him and held his hand when pain shot through it. He sighed as he leaned against the offending wall. Nothing could be simple anymore.
Then, he disapparated.
Atop the very building Harry had been leaning against, the wind caught a woman's cloak. A smile played across the woman's face as she stood up and straightened her cloak. "Next time… next time I'll show him. Not now, though." Then, she disapparated.
Harry sat in the holding area, watching one of the older women console the victim. "Can you tell me why he attacked you?" the older woman asked.
"No… no, I don't know," the witch he'd helped save said. Her name turned out to be Sylvia Tempest.
The older woman looked to Harry, since he was the one that got there first. He shrugged. He wasn't entirely certain what went on himself. He was watching Sylvia Tempest very sharply. He remembered vaguely what she had said before. The secret lay within.
He sighed, took off his glasses and rubbed his face, feeling very tired. His patrol shift was over; they had plenty of other people to patrol if they needed someone. He sighed and walked to the lift doors.
Once out of the Ministry of Magic, he walked along the street. He was tired, but he wanted to think, so he walked instead of apparating directly to home. The wizard he had fought was trying to kill that woman, Ms. Sylvia Tempest, and she knew why. He knew it.
He turned a corner and walked into an alleyway. Leaning against a wall, he slid down until he was sitting on the pavement. "Work isn't usually so tough," he said aloud to no one.
He looked over to the lighted end of the alleyway and stared tiredly at it. Something appeared there. A female shape. Her cloak billowed in the breeze. She looked very much she should be some comic book hero, which he knew didn't really exist.
He got to his feet quickly, his wand out. It was the woman from before. "I've had enough! Who are you! Tell me or I'll curse you into something akin to a slug!"
The woman came closer and he saw a face under the hood, or partially. He could see a smile. "You already know me," she said in a very American accent. "I had thought I could play with you a bit more, but I guess I crossed the line to irritating, huh."
Harry was about to ask what she meant when she reached up and pulled the hood off. Familiar silver hair was pulled back into a pair of knots near the nape of her neck. Extremely pale skin shown in the pale moonlight made her freckles look darker than they should have been. He looked to her neck and saw the familiar Aeturnus knot pendent.
"Astra," he breathed.
She grinned. "Yup. I'm back and ready for action."
"But… I thought you had a baby… and were living in America!" Harry was confused, but happy to see his friend.
"I was living in America… with my mom and gran. They were helping me while Draco continued with managing things here. I had my baby and took care of him until I could go back to work, which I might add, is here. I brought him back home and now Draco's taking care of the baby while I'm out."
Harry took it all in. Draco taking care of a baby was about as plausible as a rooster turning into a lightning rod. The image alone was entertaining. He grinned and hugged Astra. "You scared the daylights out of me, you realize that?"
Astra laughed. "I bet. Earlier today, I was re-registering myself here as a working auror for the Ministry of Magic instead of being one for the American Wizard government. I mean, if I'm staying in England, I might as well call it home, right? However, I must say I prefer the American government to the British one. This government sucks horribly."
Harry shot her a look and then shrugged after a moment. "It's home."
She smirked. "Yeah… home. Anyway, so are you going to go home now, or do I have to tell Ginny and she gets to hurt you."
Harry grinned, then, he disapparated.
Astra looked on in the darkness and smirked. She was back all right, and she was on the team once again.